Obama to take lead in pick

All sides ramping up for battle over high court nominee

May 02, 2009|By Christi Parsons and Tom Hamburger, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The White House began gearing up Friday to select and promote President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, setting its machinery in motion well before Justice David Souter called in the early afternoon to tell the president of his pending retirement.

As the administration's leadership team on the top-priority project began to emerge, one thing became obvious immediately: Obama will be the key player.

The president made clear his intended level of involvement, taking upon himself the most mundane of administrative tasks -- officially breaking the news on Souter by interrupting his own press secretary's afternoon news conference.

In tow were his chief of staff and top lawyer, a signal that, whatever direction the vetting and selection process takes, the calls will be coming from the onetime University of Chicago constitutional law professor who now occupies the Oval Office.

"The process of selecting someone to replace Justice Souter is among my most serious responsibilities as president," Obama told reporters. "I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook."

The White House hopes the new justice will be confirmed in time to be seated by the first Monday in October, when the court's new term begins. Senate Judiciary Committee staffers were preparing for a nomination they expect to come after Souter's last day on the court, probably in June, and a summer hearing process that would follow quickly.

The rough schedule gives the opposition a little time to galvanize its response, breathing room it needs in the wake of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's decision this week to switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic side. Several senators are likely to vie for his position as ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which will conduct the confirmation hearings.

Meantime, the full war machinery of past nomination battles was whirring into motion. Interest groups on the right and the left issued dozens of news releases, recommendations and threats Friday.

The Obama team has been preparing for that battle for months. The president set up a working group on judicial selection right after his election, charging them with coming up with candidates suitable for vacancies on federal courts throughout the country as well as the Supreme Court.

As early as December, in meetings in Chicago and Washington, Obama suggested names of people he would seriously consider for the high court, said an administration official familiar with the process.

When the administration took office, the review of those possible nominees became more formal and more intense. The effort was led by White House Counsel Greg Craig, who established a small team to vet possible nominees.

The team reviews not only the standard questions about a nominee's judicial philosophy and courtroom experience but also the questions that have snagged nominees in the past, such as tax liens, past drug use and positions on hot-button issues such as abortion.

Speculation that Souter was planning to retire reached a fever pitch Thursday, as it became clear the justice wasn't choosing law clerks for the upcoming terms. Anticipating a vacancy, senior staff members met in the West Wing to talk about the selection process.

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Potential choices

Here are some of the names of people being mentioned as possible candidates for the Supreme Court:

*Judge Diane Wood, on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago

*Federal Judge Ann Williams of Chicago

*Federal Judge Ruben Castillo of Chicago

*Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein

*Solicitor General Elena Kagan

*Judge Sonia Sotomayor, on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York